Bengt Nordstrom, head of telecom consultancy Northstream, believes Samsung will struggle to gain the global position needed to support the hefty costs to research and develop the tech that drives 5G networks — despite its technological prowess and financial firepower.

Nordstrom argues that Samsung is chasing a mature market with little growth, where global scale and presence is the only way to reap acceptable returns. Even in a high tech industry that promises all kinds of automation and artificial intelligence, human beings are still key.

“The reason why Ericsson and Nokia each have about 100,000 employees, and Huawei even more, is that that’s what it takes to be present in every market,” Nordstrom said. “To scale up from Samsung’s presence in only a few countries, you need to hire tens of thousands of people. I don’t think that’s doable.”

“It’s been a week of negative announcements and indications from the biggest markets in Europe — the U.K., Germany and France,” said Bengt Nordstrom, CEO of telecom consultant Northstream. The continent’s biggest carriers will now be “extra cautious” of buying equipment from Huawei, Nordstrom said. (…) Dropping Huawei in Europe wouldn’t be easy. Most carriers [...]Read more